Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Lights on Your Featherweight

Regarding Pam's problem with the light on her featherweight.I had the loose light problem on one of my fw's last winter. The light justwouldn't stay on as it should. I was in Montreal visiting a friend and doingsome quilting with him and showed the problem to his Dad. His Dad said thatthe light bulb was not making good contact in the socket. He got out hissoldering kit and put a drop of solder on the end of the bulb and screwed itback in the machine. It has worked fine ever since. I recently had the sameproblem with a machine and the Singer Man did the same thing. Put somesolder on the bulb to build up the contact point.

I saw a posting about FW lights flickering. The bulbs Singer now sells aredifferent than the old ones and may not make good contact in the socket,hence the flickering or no light at all. The bulb is of the bayonet type,meaning it has two small pins on opposite sides that fit into slots in thesocket. To insert the bulb, line the pins up with the slots and push untilit stops, then turn to the right (clockwise), to lock it in place. Toremove the bulb, do just the opposite, push in to unlock, turn to the left(counter clockwise), and then pull out. Sounds simple enough, but thesebulbs are very difficult to remove and install. Let me explain why.

The electrical contacts in the socket are two spring loaded brass pins ofsmall diameter. The contacts on the bulb (old one), are two sphericaldrops of solder. When you try to install or remove the bulb, the brasspins gouge into the soft solder instead of sliding over the surface of thesolder. This causes the bulb to hang up and not turn properly. The newbulb, Singer item # 2118, has lower profile contacts, designed to slideover the brass pins easier without hanging up. However, the new bulb doesnot always make good contact because of this lower profile.

So whats the solution? You can buy a GE #15T7DC appliance bulb, availableat hardware stores (this bulb is similar to the old bulb). Or, if you arehandy with a soldering iron, you can add a little solder to the contacts onthe Singer #2118 bulb. Lets hope you don't have this problem. Generally,the new bulb works fine. In any case you will find changing the bulb atrying experience.

Jean, I have had good luck solving your light socket problem by using a veryhigh quality European-made bulb that is Brewers part number 669. It costsabout $3.00 which is much more than the standard bulbs and was made forSinger by Phillips. The base is ever so slightly larger. I don't thinkmost dealers carry it but you could probably get Stepping Stones Quilts onSt. Simons Island, GA to order one for you. Their e-mail address is71155.1072@compuserve.com.----------------------------